Sometimes making wise choices and decisions is difficult. On Friday night, we decided to rent "Avengers: Age of Ultron". The four oldest girls love super hero movies and we have enjoyed watching movies like "Captain America" together in the past. We were all very excited to watch the newest Avengers moive. We put the two little ones to bed and snuggled up on the couch ready to watch the movie. The movie was decent. My discernment started kicking in when I heard a character twist scripture. Some time passed in the movie and then Ultron came on the scene. When he is awoken, he stands up and states that he is "I am". At first he whispers it so I thought I was hearing things. A few seconds later though, he states it again very clear for everyone to hear. It is at that moment that Wayne and I decided it was time for the movie to go off.

Right now I know some of you may wonder if we are "old-fashioned" or "legalistic" in our choice to turn off the movie. I would argue that we are neither. As I mentioned before, we are not opposed to movies and we have a family movie night quite frequently. What we are opposed to though is a movie that is clearly proclaiming blasphemy against God. The definition of blasphemy is impious utterance or action concerning God or sacred things, the crime of assuming to oneself the rights or qualities of God.

In Exodus 3:13-14 when God is calling Moses to go to Egypt and rescue the Israelites from Pharaoh, this is the conversation that takes place. "Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I AM who I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’" Jesus later calls Himself I AM in John 8. John 8:58-59 says, "Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple." It is such a powerful statement, calling oneself I AM, that the Pharisees and people picked up stones to stone Jesus for making this claim.

Seeing how serious this in the Bible, we take it serious as well. Some may argue it is just a movie and it isn't a big deal. It is a big deal because the Bible warns us to be careful of what we allow before our eyes. I do not think this movie met the standards God gives us in Psalm 101. I want to help guard my children's hearts and minds. We used this movie as an opportunity to teach them about the importance of who the true I AM is. We also taught them that sometimes you have to make hard choices to obey and follow the Lord. You may not always be popular in the world's eyes and you might even be made fun of by friends, but ultimately, we are responsible before the Lord in how we conduct our lives here on earth.

This was a great reminder to our family that we need to be vigilant every day. It is too easy to get lax and laid back in what is on our computer screens, our tvs, our phones, or our tablets put before our eyes. May each of us guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:4-9 says, "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you."

I find it interesting that when we are finding peace in God and allowing Him to guard our hearts and our minds, that the verses that follow talk about what we should think on/allow our minds to meditate on...things that are true, honorable, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and praise worthy. I think if we measured what we listen to, what we watch, and what we say to these standards, we would all be more careful in what we allow our minds and hearts to consume. May each of us strive to become more like Christ every day and guard our hearts and our minds.

I think a Sunday School song sums this up very nicely.

Oh Be Careful

O be careful little eyes what you see

O be careful little eyes what you see

There's a Father up above

And He's looking down in love

So, be careful little eyes what you see

O be careful little ears what you hear

O be careful little ears what you hear

There's a Father up above

And He's looking down in love

So, be careful little ears what you hear

O be careful little hands what you do

O be careful little hands what you do

There's a Father up above

And He's looking down in love

So, be careful little hands what you do

O be careful little feet where you go

O be careful little feet where you go

There's a Father up above

And He's looking down in love

So, be careful little feet where you go

O be careful little mouth what you say

O be careful little mouth what you say

There's a Father up above

And He's looking down in love

So, be careful little mouth what you say

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Wayne finished his last chemo pills from cycle 5 last night. Now the next few days his body will start recuperating. Please continue to pray for him. His stomach has been affected again this month. His main symptoms this month are being fatigued/tired and sick to his stomach. Praise the Lord we made it one more cycle. One more cycle (Lord willing) to go. Thank you for all of your continued prayers for our family!!

Impromptu science class. I went to pick the last of my tomatoes off of my plants yesterday and I found that some of my tomatoes had been eaten. We found these two large tomato horned worms on my plants. We are now watching them eat the tomatoes. Eventually they will burrow in the dirt and later emerge as a moth. We'll keep you posted on that project.

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About Me

I am a daughter of the King, wife to my amazing husband Wayne since 1999, and mom to 6 beautiful little girls and 2 handsome sons. On February 11, 2015, Wayne had a grand mal seizure and we discovered that he had a brain tumor. After a biopsy, we found out that it was cancerous tumor. He had brain surgery in March to remove the tumor. He was in inpatient rehabilitation for two weeks, underwent six weeks of chemo and radiation, and is currently doing six more cycles of chemo. This is our story, really God's story. We want to remember all the wonderful things God has done and will continue to do each day of our life as we walk this journey.